“It’s surreal,” says Headstones front man Hugh Dillon when asked about the band’s resurgence, with their hit album Little Army and single Devil’s on Fire hitting No. 1 on the rock charts.

He finds himself repeating his answer on the next question, about his (no spoilers) cameo on a recent episode of David Lynch’s revived and certifiably surreal Twin Peaks.

“I can’t believe all my answers are gonna be, ‘It’s surreal.’ But even for me that was surreal, because (when I saw the episode) I had just gotten out of dental surgery, I was on the couch, and I was like holy f—!’ ”

Dillon spoke to the Citizen about fronting the iconic Kingston rockers Headstones with a new album on a post-reunion tour, his acting career and his special connection with another certain iconic Canadian band from the Limestone City.

Q: How did you get involved in Twin Peaks?A: I just kind of keep my head down and I love what I do, and I love the people I work with. I’m very fortunate to be working with these guys in the band, who are just incredible musicians and artists, and then with acting I’m so fortunate to work with really, he’s an icon, David Lynch.

That was an incredible moment. That he was interested in me working with him. And the whole process with that guy is surreal, I mean, that went on for months to be involved in Twin Peaks. The good news is, it’s nice to be touring for this record.

Q: What kind of reception are you getting on the road from fans new and old?A: The gigs we started last year, when we started putting some of these new songs in, it’s just overwhelming. We’ve just got a crazy fanbase who are really passionate about that authentic rock ‘n’ roll sound, and seeing it live, they go off. It’s what it’s supposed to be. There’s no bulls—.

Q: Do you see parallels between Little Army and (1993 debut) Picture of Health?

A: This record circles right back, all of it, to Picture of Health — right from how we wrote it, to how we got the record deal. In 2017, it was the same thing, it wasn’t just handed to us. Record deals aren’t easy to get. We made demos, and one of them was Devil’s on Fire, just like in the early days we had demos for When Something Stands for Nothing …

And at this stage of the game to have people who really care about rock ‘n’ roll and who are really passionate and excited about music, it’s exceptional. Iain Taylor, the president of Cadence, showed up on a winter night in Toronto. I was shooting a movie, flew back to play the gig. Our drummer was late for soundcheck, and the record company guys were there, and (Taylor) says, “I love that Devil’s On Fire, I can sit in.” And he knew the song, and he could play, and I was like, “holy f—.”

And years ago when we made Picture of Health it was the same thing. People were interested in the band, they knew the songs, the record company people came, and the guys in the Hip would show up, and then Cam Carpenter signed us to MCA.

Q: You’ve always had a special connection with Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip, which you sing a bit about on Kingston.A: I’ve known those guys my whole life, they’re responsible for me being here as an artist. I remember us before the Hip, we were 17-year-old kids in the same high school and we would go to this bar underage called the Prince George and watch (Muddy Waters’ guitarist) Luther “Guitar” Johnson play. He had this great drummer, they were just killer, and Gord and I would go and we were huge fans, and this guy was validating towards us. He kept going, “You guys love the blues!”

He was in his 50s, and he had a corncob pipe and we had some weed, so it was just me and Gord Downie and Luther Johnson smoking dope in downtown Kingston, and just talking about the blues and music and how to express yourself. That was very validating for us.

Q: How important have they been to you through the years?

A: When the Hip were first getting going, I watched them take off. And then when I got a band together and got some songs together (with Headstones) and were showcasing for some record company people, they showed up.

It was Gord and Paul (Langlois) on a Tuesday night, and that helped us get a record deal. And when they got bigger, and Picture of Health came out, we got to play with them in a stadium in front of 10,000 people, so we learned to play a bigger stage in front of bigger crowds. Everything that we did, they kind of showed us the way.

Even when I did my solo stuff, or the songs for (TV series) Flashpoint, Paul produced it. I just found an old postcard in my basement from Gord he sent me from (the Hip’s first tour in) Europe. He’s always just been very kind to me, and they’ve always brought out the best in me.

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